Property Tax Relief

Vanderburgh is the first county in the state to get its property tax bills ready. If you live in Vanderburgh, you will get your bill soon. But right now, you can go online to see if you got that promised tax cut. Republican State Representative Suzanne Crouch celebrated with one property owner today, who will pay almost half of what she did last year. Barbara Hansen was pleasantly surprised to find that her property tax bill is down from 1,044 dollars to 581, a 44 percent cut. "Thats a very good thing because with the price of gasoline going up , food, utility bills, its nice to get a little break on our taxes to put a little few extra bucks in our pocket." The property tax relief package the general assembly passed this year will result in an average tax cut of 38 percent in Vanderburgh county. Statewide the figure is 30 percent. "The taxpayers spoke. The legislature listened and now the taxpayers are getting the benefit of that." Vanderburgh county property owners can check their bill by going to vanderburghgov.org and clicking on "tax billing database", and typing in a name or address. The tax cut is being paid for by an increase in the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent. Local governments can offset the loss in revenue by increasing the local option incomes tax, but the state would rather see them cut spending. "And you can raise that money not only to supplement losses in your budget, but you can also use that money to provide even more property tax relief to homeowners." Crouch says this years immediate relief comes through an increase in the homestead credit and long term reform will be provided by capping residential property taxes at one percent of assessed value. Some people will see property tax increases, but crouch says 87 percent of Hoosiers will get a tax cut.